Senior management

We have a talented, experienced, knowledgeable senior management team at Vernalis. They lead our commercial pipeline, manage our research programmes and oversee our partner collaborations. They also ensure that the company is well run at all levels. Key members of the management team include:

Ian Garland, Chief Executive Officer

Ian Garland became Chief Executive Officer in December 2008. From May 2007 until September 2008, Ian was CEO of Acambis plc. During this period he oversaw a series of important advances culminating in the company's acquisition by Sanofi-Aventis in September 2008 for £280m. From 2004 to 2007, Ian served as CFO of Arrow Therapeutics Ltd., a privately-held company engaged in the discovery and development of new anti-viral agents until its acquisition by AstraZeneca plc for US$150m in February 2007. Before this Ian was President and Chief Operating Officer of Celltech Pharmaceuticals Inc., which had a turnover of around US$300 million encompassing the US operations of Celltech Group plc. From 1988 to 1995 Ian worked at KPMG, specialising in the pharmaceutical sector, following qualification as a Chartered Accountant.

David Mackney, Chief Financial Officer

David Mackney was appointed as Chief Financial Officer on 2 February 2009. Prior to joining Vernalis David worked with Ian as Interim CFO at Acambis plc, working to successfully secure the US biodefence contract, the secondary financing and the acquisition of Acambis by Sanofi-Aventis. Prior to Acambis, David was CFO for a private equity-backed technology company and served as Group Financial Controller at Shire plc. From 1996 to 2001, David worked as a senior manager in audit and then in transaction services at Arthur Andersen. He is a Chartered Accountant.

Mike Wood, Research Director

Mike Wood became Research Director in February 2004. Since then, he has overseen the continued strengthening of capabilities in structure and fragment based drug discovery. Mike's focus has been on the pragmatic adaptation of the most effective methods for rapid assessment of therapeutic targets and driving projects to deliver clinical candidates. The current therapeutic focus for Vernalis research is oncology and in particular drug targets relating to cancer metabolism. Before becoming our Research Director, Mike was the Head of Pre-clinical Development for Ribotargets and prior to that Director of Biology at British Biotech. Mike started his industrial career at Smith Kline and French in 1986.

Susan Wallcraft, Group General Counsel and Company Secretary

Susan Wallcraft joined Vernalis in January 2018 as Group General Counsel and Company Secretary. Prior to joining Vernalis, Susan was General Counsel and Company Secretary for the Wellcome Trust and before that she spent 10 years at Pfizer in increasingly senior legal roles, the last being Assistant General Counsel for the Primary Care business in Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Susan qualified as a solicitor in 1992 and began her career at CMS in the City specialising in corporate transactions in the Pharmaceutical sector.

Sandford Sommer, President and Chief Operating Officer

Sandford Sommer joined Vernalis in May 2016. Prior to joining Vernalis, Sandford gained considerable experience during his 24 years at AstraZeneca, including increasingly senior roles in sales and marketing, and general management. Most recently he served as President of AstraZeneca´s Colombia operations where the business experienced rapid growth during his tenure. Prior to Colombia, he served in a variety of leadership roles, including Global Vice President of CNS, Infection and Flu Vaccines. In the US he served as Executive Director for the Seroquel® Franchise, where under his leadership Seroquel XR® became one of the fastest growing atypical antipsychotics, and the team was recognized by Medical Marketing and Media as "Large Pharma Marketing Team of the Year." He has extensive experience building brands and has been instrumental in the success of some of the most successful brands in pharmaceutical history including Seroquel®, Nexium®, and Symbicort®. Mr. Sommer served on the Board of the UK Colombia Trade organization for the last two years. He began his career with sales and management positions at Astra/Merck.

Pascal Borderies, MD, SVP Medical Affairs

Pascal Borderies joined Vernalis in September 2014. A physician by training who initially focused on clinical pharmacology, Pascal provides leadership and has oversight for all clinical development, medical affairs, regulatory and pharmacovigilance activities of the commercial and development portfolio of the company. Prior to joining Vernalis, Pascal held positions of increasing responsibility on both the R&D and the business sides in various pharma/biotech companies, managing prescriptions and OTC products in Primary Care and other Specialty markets. Most recently, Pascal was the Senior Director Clinical Strategy & Development in the Pharmaceutical Technologies division of Aptalis Pharma, Inc. Before, he was Director – Global Head Cough-Cold Respiratory, Pain and New Growth Opportunities and Director Search and Evaluate in the OTC Business Unit of Novartis Consumer Health, Inc., Senior Director Commercial Development Allergy, Respiratory, Primary Care and Women's Health at Schering-Plough Corp., Executive Director Commercial Development & Marketing/BD at Genaissance Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Director Marketing at Sanofi-Synthélabo Inc. Pascal earned his Medical Degree from the School of Medicine of the University Paris 12 Val de Marne in France.